The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-05
TEMPERANCE READING.
WORKINGS OF RUM.
Neither Food Nor Medicine, 1t Is n Slow
Poison to the Human System.

Poison to the Human System.
Th~re are, unfortunately, a great
many good, honest people in this land
of ours, who have the impression fixed
in their minds that beer, and wine, and
whisky, are, in some manner, of use in
the human system. They decry the
ims1oderate use of rum, yet cling to
the idea that in small quantities it is
not harmful but rather beneficial.
This error-for error it isis I'M
fortunately supported by large num-
Der OF doctors, especially those of mar
row reading and limited educational
advantages in early life and in thu
study of the theory Of medicine. The
best educated physicians of the present
unhesitatingly agree that rum-or its
active principle, ALCOHOLICS not only
not a food, but that even rs medi-
cine it can be dispensed with, its place
being supplied by safer remedies, which
will produce better effect, with none
Of the evil results which the use of al
cohol entails.
The class of conservative, or poorly
educated physicians have, MS q rule, no
personal Investigations nor experience
in the matter, but merely quote the
theory proposed by medical writer of
some repute, number of years ago,
that up to certain point, alcohol is
consumed or disposed of in the human
system; that up to this point alcohol is
not only harmless, but acts the part of
a food, and this limit is fixed at from
an ounce to an ounce and half of al
cohol per day. Above this limit -
which was assumed to vary with differ
ent individuals alcohol was admitted
TO be injurious to the drinker. This
theory you will find quoted by medical
men to-day, in the most grave and i'm
| preSsive manner, Notwithstanding the
fact that its fallacies have been shown
up, its conclusions have been proved
unsound, and the whole thing relegated
for long time to its proper place
among the exploded and untenable
theories of the past.
What, then, is the effect upon the
body of taking alcohol, in any of its
many forms, into the human systemP
1t must be placed among some one of
these five classes of substances:
First-Among the true foods, which
supply new material for the building
up Of the bodily tissues, and supply
nerve-force or heat;
| Second-AS one of the accessory
foods, which, while not performing the
office of true food, yet facilitate nutri-
ton, like salt or the acid principles of
fruit;
Third--As a medicine, to correct i'm
paired functions of the different Or
, gans;
Fourth-As poison, which produces
injurious effect upon the tissues or func-
tons;
Fifth-As an inert body, which pass
es through the alimentary canal with
out being absorbed or producing any
effect whatever, as does a small seed,
for instance.
Alcohol must necessarily belong to
one of the above five classes, as they
cover all possible cases of articles which
are taken into the stomach. 1t is plain
that it does not come under the fifth
class. Every one knows that. 1t pro-
duces certain effects, which differ in de-
gree but not in kind, owing to the
amount taken into the system. Let us,
then, inquire what are those effects, in
order that we may decide under which
of the first four heads it shall be CLASH
fed. If a capsule be filled with alcohol,
SO that not q particle touches the tongue
or mouth, in few minutes It's odor
will be perceptible on the expired
! breath. This shows that it is being
thrown off by the lungs in an unchanged
state.
A chemical examination Of the per-
spiration and urine shows that they
contain alcohol in an unchanged state.
Thus we have it demonstrated that the
lungs, the kidneys and the glands
of the skin-three great execretory
agencies of the body-set to work
as soon as the alcohol gets into
the blood to work it out of the system.
1t is eXcreted in an unchanged state;
it is alcohol, nothing more or less.
Hence it can not be food. True foods
are assimilated by the system, and,
after performing their functions of
producing heat or force, or building up
the tissue, are eXcreted in an entirely
different chemical form from the orig
inal one. Sugar, for instance, is q
heat-producing food. 1t is thrown off
from the lungs, not as sugar, but as
carbonic acid gas-and from the other
excretory organs in various combina-
tions, but not as sugar. The same is
true of all other true foods Not one
of them is thrown off in an unchanged
form. Hence alcohol is not a food.
Then which of the other three classes
does it come under? Is it an accessory
food-does it facilitate natures pro-
cessesP The universal voice of the
highest medical authorities is that it
does exactly the opposite. 1t hinders
digestion, for example. Now in this
we know the popular opinion is just
the opposite. At a state dinner. for